


You Remind Me Of Mother

by mareebird



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Brodinsons, Brotherly Bonding, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Mother's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24118864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mareebird/pseuds/mareebird
Summary: Loki keeps vigil after an accident leaves Thor gravely injured.
Relationships: Loki & Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 75





	You Remind Me Of Mother

Thor was not recovering as quickly as the healers expected.

They could offer no explanation. Even Eir, with her endless words of comfort, was uncomfortably silent. Loki had his theories, of course. Thor was the Allfather, now, with stores of power that he had never been properly taught how to wield. The possibility that he was draining those stores, to keep himself alive, faster than he could regenerate them seemed all too likely. It had always been that way. His brother did not know how to be thrifty, especially in cheating death.

Loki would have to teach Thor a few things, when he finally woke, which he wished it would happen already. He was growing impatient. He prayed to Frigga that he might find a little peace, though it was strange, praying to one's mother. Thor's state reminded him all too much of the Odinsleep and he did not like being forced to sit with memories he would rather avoid. Frigga had the patience of the Norns, even if it had occasionally infuriated him.

He came each morning to Thor's bedside and ended up there every night. Eventually, he began sleeping in a chair. There were no windows in his private room; it was easy to lose track of time. When the healers were absent, Loki took it upon himself to tend to his brother’s many wounds. He was ill-suited to it, but it made him feel less useless. He hated the sight of his brother so neatly laid out, like a corpse. He hated how the room was kept dark as a tomb. He hated the nasty gash across Thor’s forehead most of all. 

“Thank the Norns for your thick skull,” he had muttered more than once.

Thor seemed vaguely cognizant of Loki’s presence, even though he refused to wake. When Loki dabbed his injuries with oil of frankincense, Thor would wrinkle his nose. Sometimes, his good eye would open to a sliver.

“Yes, it’s me,” Loki would hiss, gently, before his brother could comment, but he never made a true sound.

Days turned into weeks.

"Please don't die, Thor. You're not supposed to be the one who dies." Sometimes Loki felt so dazed by the unreality of it all that he could not tell the difference between what he thought and what he said. He only knew his voice sounded anemic and childlike, and that he could no longer look at Thor without being staggered by the disbelief that they had once been children at all. For the first time, his brother looked old and vulnerable and as capable of dying as anyone else.

As every other member of their family to date.

And then, one morning, when Thor’s silence had become so day-to-day that Loki had almost forgotten the timbre of his voice, words at last came from his brother’s mouth.

“You remind me of Mother,” he said, of all things.

“What?” Loki mumbled, unsure if he was awake himself by this point. He was sitting, quietly reading the same page he had been reading all morning. He had certainly not been tending to Thor in any sort of _maternal_ fashion. He shifted against his chair, half-shocked, wondering if he ought to get Eir, but the mention of Frigga had frozen him in place.

Thor smiled at him. “You do. You remind me of her.”

“Was she as clumsy as I, as a healer?” Loki did not know what to say. It was better to brush Thor’s comment aside. His heart vibrated within his chest; it was uncomfortable.

Thor kept on smiling, as though it was not the first time he had mentioned their mother in years. “I mean that you have her smile.”

“That's not possible.” Loki’s biting words slipped out faster than he could stop them.

But Thor only chuckled. The blankets around his shoulders shifted as he shrugged. “And yet, you do.”

Perhaps Thor was not as recovering at all. Perhaps he was getting worse. Loki rose from the chair and crossed to the bed so that he could get a better look at him. His brother’s eye was open and clear, but Loki’s shoulders did not release. “If you’re trying to thank me for keeping watch, then you’re welcome. I shall fetch Eir.”

“No,” said Thor. “I mean, yes. You probably should get her, but… I’ve been able to watch you drift in and out. You have Mother’s smile. I never noticed before.”

The room was not dark enough to conceal the burning tear that rolled down Loki’s cheek. He swiped it away. He was too tired and he really could not talk about their mother after everything that had happened, not while Thor's face still looked like a stitched-up ragdoll.

The clarity in Thor’s eye shaded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would upset you.”

Loki pressed his lips together. “It’s fine.” He turned to leave, to find Eir, but he stopped short, staring at the door and the thin line of light beneath it. He did _not_ have Frigga’s smile. Thor was high on whatever was in the herbs and injections they were giving him day and night. No, he did not have Frigga’s smile in the slightest.

 _But Thor did._ And for weeks, Loki had been terrified that he would lose one for the first time and the other twice over.

"I'm sorry, Loki. I thought that maybe, after all..." Thor paused. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned mother."

Loki glanced over his shoulder. Thor had propped himself up on his elbow, or was attempting to do so. With a sound that bordered on irritation, Loki walked back to settle him, but something in his chest ballooned and popped. He was, at heart, too relieved to be anything but happy. He fixed his glare so that Thor would not be able to tell just how happy he was.

“Lie down," he hissed. "You are going to be a terrible patient, now that you’re awake.”

“I know. I know.”

“I’m going to fetch Eir. Don’t move. Or else… Or else, I will use a trick mother taught me and turn you into a pillar of stone until I get back.”

A faint smile touched the corner of Loki’s lips.

Thor smiled back.

Loki could hardly stand it, how happy he felt.

Thor looked just like their mother when he smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Mother's Day 2020


End file.
